Photo Portraits: People of Impact in Door County

This is my second time participating in People of Impact, a show in Sister Bay curated by Tom Seagard, owner with his wife Brigitte Kozma of Mill Road Gallery in Sister Bay. (They are both excellent painters and their gallery is well worth a visit.) The People of Impact show opens Saturday at Scandia in Sister Bay and will run until sometime in August.

A Sturgeon Bay resident, I have chosen people who are making the city a better place to live and work. Also, they are people who are fun to be with, so shooting their photographs and talking with them has been enjoyable. You can see the pictures and read about them at my DoorCountyReview blog. 

Two people who have had great impact in Door County are in this show — as photographers. Dennis Connolly and his wife Bonnie are patrons and sponsors in activities across the county, sometime named, sometime anonymous. Thomas Jordan has published two excellent photography books, one on Door County and another on Sturgeon Bay, with profits going to the Door County Community Foundation. Through his photographic explorations he has uncovered many treasures that I wasn’t aware of, and I have spent a lot of time and mileage exploring the county. (He also has a new book based on a one-week trip to Cuba which is filled with excellent images — it was an amazing productive week. See Novel Bay Books in Sturgeon Bay for a selection of his work including his latest Door County book, a $75 limited edition to benefit Literacy Door County)

Thomas Jordan's books about Door County

Dennis and Thomas are excellent models of people who have moved to Door County and immersed themselves in it, to the benefit of the county.

When I am not following Dennis’s direction to photograph people of impact, I like to do urban street shooting. At home I must admit I shoot an inordinate number of photographs of our three dogs — Zola, a golden retriever named after the French author; Kali, a long-haired German shepherd named after the Indian goddess of destruction; and Tucker, our new two-year old golden who just came with that name.

I’ve exhibited around Door County including Base Camp in Sister Bay, Hope Church Gallerey and TAP in Sturgeon Bay, at GLAS in Sheboygan, at Paterson University in New Jersey and at the Witkin in New York.

I am a freelance writer specializing in financial technology and publishing at forbes.com, the Global Association for Risk Professionals (GARP), and starting soon at The Financial Revolutionist, and in London at Mondo Visione and Banking Technology. I have also written for The Economist, years ago, about shipbulding in Sturgeon Bay.

The People of Impact photography show is at the Measows Gallery, at Scandia Retirement Campus, inside the Independent Living Apts, 10560 Applewood Road, Sister Bay. Opening: 1-3 PM Saturday July 6.

People of Impact in Door County -- Jeff and Sarah Bradley, Artists Guild

The Artists Guild on 3rd Avenue in Sturgeon Bay has one of the largest inventories in the Midwest, unusual for a city of less than 10,000 population, but a boon to the many artists working in Door County.

It’s more than just a supply center, it’s a resource for artists. The Artists Guild has been running a life drawing session on Tuesday evenings since 2005, attracting a dedicated clientele year-round plus vacationers during the summer, college students on school breaks, and area high school students who need some life drawing examples for college or art school applications.

Jeff and Sarah Bradley

Jeff and Sarah Bradley started it as a simple art supply shop when Sarah, who has a degree in drawing and print making from the University of New Hampshire, grew frustrated with having to travel to Chicago for painting supplies.  She is the third generation woman artists in her family.

The store draws a mix of customers, from amateurs to professionals has a mix of materials, from student grade to professional quality.

Four staff members are certified in arts materials and are also practicing painters, so they can discuss the paints, canvases, papers and brushes.


Art supply stores are being hit by the same internet-driven waves of change as book stores and other retailers.

“The whole industry has changed and small art supply stores are disappearing” said Jeff. To compete, it has expanded its children’s section and increased its emphasis on education and coaching.

Artists Guild carries a huge inventory of paints and other art supplies

The art supply community has changed, said Sarah, and has often lost its focus on educating and expertise.

“We offer education within the store and we have been doing that since we opened our doors; the days of just selling a tube of paint are gone.”

They can also discuss the health issues around painting.

Most of the health problems affecting oil painters came from the solvents like spirits and turpentine, but painters can also use safflower oil, linseed oil or walnut oil to clean up, and paint companies have developed water soluble oil paints that feel very similar to traditional oils.

Jeff, who taught high school chemistry for a year, said art paints had a period of rapid innovation in the 1840s through an explosion in the knowledge of chemistry. Ultra marine blue had been very expensive so it was used sparingly until a French artist approached a chemist and they developed French Ultra Marine.

“That changed painting and influenced the Impressionists.”


Another big change came in In 1841 when an American invented the paint tube, which was also important to Impressionists because it made painting outdoors - plein air — much easier. The next big change came in the 1930s and 1940s when the auto industry developed new colors to make cars more attractive.

Artists Guild has one of only 83 Master Certified Framers in the world, Jannine Buechner, who took first place in an international framing competition in Las Vegas.


“People want to come and get their work framed by her,” said Jeff, noting that she has framed originals by Picasso and Degas.  Some owners drop a valuable work off in the morning and want to pick it up that afternoon, but since the store was originally a bank, it has several vaults to secure valuable works of art.

The Bradleys are also active in the community. They donate framing and money to the Miller Art Museum, the Hardy Gallery and the Peninsula School of Art and are a sponsor of the Sturgeon Bay Art Crawl and donate framing to the Boys and Girls Club. Jeff was on the board of Habitat with Glen Rossman.

People of Impact in Door County -- Amy and Buster Crook, Kitty O’Reillys Irish Pub

Kitty O’Reillys Irish Pub, on Oak Street in Sturgeon Bay, has led the revitalization of the city’s Westside since it took over what had been The Stein. In its 10 years, the pub has become a popular spot for lunch, dinner and drinks.

Amy and Buster Crook met while working in Milwaukee at BonTon, the parent company of Younkers. Amy Briggs is a Sturgeon Bay native; her parents ran Briggsville Garden nursery and landscaping, which helps explain the extensive plantings in the outdoor terrace at the pub.

They had limited to no  restaurant experience but they knew what they wanted — an Irish pub that offered a lively venue which welcomed young and old, families and singles

An early vendor looked around their new space and offered his considered opinion: “You guys are nuts.”

Jameson with Amy and Buster Crook at Kitty's

But they have been operating for 10 years and have staff who have stayed with them for 8 or 9 years. This summer they are on the second year of using the J-1 program to bring foreign students to work in the U.S. for the summer. They have 11, from Eastern Europe and a few from Colombia. They bought a house for them.

“That has helped us tremendously,” said Amy, “with hosting and bussing and dishwashing. And it’s amazing to see how fast their English improves in a month. It is a great experience for our American employees, and for our son, Jameson.”

My wife Keli and I have been going there pretty much since it opened. Kitty’s is a comfortable place — the food has always been good to excellent, and the huge Bloody Marys are a great way to start a Saturday or Sunday.

When Buster and Amy saw The Stein for sale, they wanted it immediately. The building has heritage — it is 115-plus years old — but more important, it had outdoor space, although it was a five-foot drop from the pub doorway.

All it needed was dirt, said the landscaper’s daughter. Truckloads later the top level patio was a direct step out. It’s popular in the relatively warm months and overhead heaters, plus some good drinks, can keep it comfortable from mid-May to mid-October

They have dressed the outdoors up with plants and flowers, lots of them.

“It’s in my blood,” said Amy, who likes to garden, and is accustomed to the challenges of a relatively short, chilly planting season in Door County. She has already replaced several plants in what passed for spring in 2019.

Kitty’s is open seven days a week all year long. Kitty’s, the Madison Avenue Wine shop and Sonny’s with its great view of the harbor and the shipyard, now offer plenty of incentive to cross the bay.

People of Impact in Door County -- Margaret Lockwood and Allin Walker, The Lockwood Gallery

The Lockwood Gallery on the corner of 2nd Avenue and Michigan Street in Sturgeon Bay will look familiar to anyone who had been to Margaret Lockwood’s  previous gallery, Woodwalk, in Egg Harbor.

The walls hold her distinctive large abstract and semi-abstract paintings, some of which suggest trees or water, bays and headlands.

The building, which had been empty for 20 years, is one of the oldest in Sturgeon Bay and has at various times times been a bank, offices, and a laundry.


“This is the third building we have bought and renovated in Door County,” said Allin Walker, Margaret’s husband. The first was the schoolhouse on Rt. 42 which is now Juddville  Pottery. Woodwalk’s barn had been part of a dairy farm before they turned it into one of the county’s leading art galleries.

“Every 10 or 11 years we move 10 to 11 miles south, to a building that is 10 to 11 years older than the one we left, and this is also our third set of dogs,” said Margaret.
The street level floor is the gallery — hers are the only paintings — but it also exhibits sculptures, mobiles, pottery and jewelry by others. The second floor is their living quarters and the lower level, which is street level on 1st Avenue, is a garage-style performance space used for theatrical productions by, among others, the Door Knockers.







“We have created a space and we invite people to try it out. It’s a continuation of what we did with the barn at Woodwalk where we opened it up for whatever came along — musical performances, fundraisers and eventually even weddings,” said Margaret. “We are used to having things happening around us. The extra energy is good.”

They are working with Jeremy Popelka and Stephanie Trenchard, whose glass works and gallery is on the other side of the street, and The Holiday Music Motel to create the Steel Bridge Creative District.




Sturgeon Bay is growing in importance as a place for Door County art, they added. They still get people stopping in to look at the gallery “on their way to Door County”. But they also hear people who are pleasantly surprised at both the art and the good restaurants in the city.

People of Impact in Door County -- Stephanie Trenchard and Jeremy Popelka The Launch

Jeremy Popelka and Stephanie Trenchard have operated the Popelka Trenchard Fine Art Gallery on 2nd Avenue in Sturgeon Bay for 20 years. They do glass blowing, casting glass in sand molds, sculpture and painting. They have been invited to teach at the Corning Glass Museum and studio in Corning, NY and the have conducted glass making workshops in Thailand.

Now they are expanding in Sturgeon Bay by leasing a building just across Nebraska Street from their existing studio to create Project Launch: Artspace. It will offer rental space to fine artists, commercial artists, photographers and performance groups and become a part of the Steel Bridge Creative District, along with the Lockwood Gallery, the Holiday Music Motel and probably the Miller Art Museum.



“It will sort of be an incubator for the arts,” said Jeremy who plans to set up his own studio there for sculpture that doesn’t involve hot glass. Four people have already signed up to rent space.

“We are luxuriating in the space,’ he added. “It is rare to find any open warehouse space like this in Sturgeon Bay.” It could also serve as a venue for pop-up art shows, said Stephanie, who thinks it will provide substance for a creative district and encourage creative people to collaborate.

“We are not going to occupy the big space, although artists are welcome to rent it for short-term projects,” she said.

The building, probably from the 1930s, was probably built by the Army Corps of Engineers  and became part of the Peterson Builders shipbuilding complex and used for research and then storage.  During the 65 years of its existence, Peterson built about 300 boats and ships, mostly modest sized such as sub chasers, minesweepers, patrol boats for the U.S. Navy and other navies around the world, fishing boats, ferries and an aluminum sailboat for the Timken family, famed for their company’s ballbearings.

It was like the 4th of July every couple of months when a Navy boat was launched, said Jeremy, but people are kind of shocked when you talk about the Navy in Sturgeon Bay.

“They had a big old computer here with 250 phone lines.”